BERLIN- The Berlin Little League Junior All-Star team made a great run through the eastern regional tournament this week before falling to Pennsylvania in the semifinals on Monday.
The Berlin Little League Junior All-Stars last week won the state championship, beating Valley Little League, 7-2, in the title game. The state championship win propelled Berlin into the east regional championships in Freehold, N.J. as the representative of Maryland with a shot at the Little League World Series on the line.
Berlin opened the east regional championship last Thursday with a 10-5 win over Rhode Island. On Friday, Berlin kept the momentum going with a 5-2 win over New Jersey. After a day off on Saturday, Berlin fell to Pennsylvania, 15-11, in a high-scoring game for its first loss of the regional tournament.
Berlin fell behind to Pennsylvania, 4-0, in the first inning but chipped away at the lead through the early part of the game. Berlin scored one run in the second, and two more in the third to cut the lead to 4-3 with a lot of innings left. However, Pennsylvania blew the game open with eight runs in the fourth to extend the lead to 12-3.
Undaunted, Berlin came back with four runs in the bottom of the fourth to cut the lead to 12-7. After Pennsylvania scored a run in the top of the fifth, Berlin scored four more in the bottom of the inning to cut the lead to 13-11. However, Pennsylvania added two more runs in the top of the seventh to close out the 15-11 loss for Berlin.
Later on Sunday, Berlin rebounded from their first loss of the tournament with a 16-6 win over New Hampshire. Berlin scored one run in the first and eight more in the second to open a big lead. New Hampshire scored three runs in the third, but Berlin came back with two runs of its own in the same inning. Berlin added five more runs in the fifth to close out New Hampshire and advance.
On Monday, Berlin bounced New Jersey from the regional tournament with an 8-2 win. Later on Monday, Berlin stayed alive in the tournament with a 10-0 win over Massachusetts. Berlin scored runs in four of the first five innings to steadily pull away from Massachusetts on their way to the 10-0 win.
With the pair of wins on Monday, Berlin advanced to the regional semifinals with a trip to the Little League Junior World Series on the line. However, Berlin had the daunting task of beating Pennsylvania twice on the same day to win the regional title and Pennsylvania was the only team to have beaten Berlin in the tournament.
Berlin fell behind early, giving up two runs in the first, but cut the lead to 2-1 with a solo run in the top of the fifth. Pennsylvania came right back with a run of its own in the bottom of the fifth to extend the lead to 3-1. Berlin cut the lead to 3-2 with a run in the top of the sixth, but the early damage had been done and Pennsylvania held on to win the region championship and send Berlin home after what was an amazing run.
